Critique this one using aperture

I was playing around with aperture on this one.

The flowers are in shade, which makes the interior of the flower more difficult to see. Maybe some fill flash would have opened up the shadows some. The shallow depth of field is good but it could stand to be a little softer.

Also, try photographing the flowers from an angle rather than dead on. This will make the composition more interesting. Also, try not to center the flowers in the frame, because that also makes the image less interesting. You could also concentrate on just one or two rather than the whole bunch of them

I changed the crop a little so they were not in the dead center, lightened the flowers somewhat and blurred the background a little more in PS but they are still kind of void of much detail.

Here's my version using PS...



I agree with Scott, and would add that you need to shoot closer and underexpose a bit, also with as wide an aperture as possible to get rid of the busy background. There has to be a center of attention from which your eyes can wander around a bit.

Here is my take.

The back of leaves can look great with light transmitted through them, it doesn't seem to work with these flowers as too much detail is lost.